I'm no scientist, but qualified in Engineering and more so in Business. My BS detectors can find no flaws in Eds logic, as espoused in this thread, or in the thread linked above - in fact it demonstrates welcome faculties of critical thinking and questioning, and shows some sound big picture thinking. :t:
The insights on group think, self fulfilling prophecies, and the delicate balancing of ethics and walking the research funding gravy train tightrope ring true to me. Real questioning and scrutiny is what science should be all about, and those recently retired folk who have lifted their noses from the grindstone are often in a position to see, and offer a wider perspective. I always have a bit of sad internal chuckle every time some
retired general or defence secretary etc, comes out decades later and says, 'Jeez, ya know maybe in retrospect, arming those dodgy factions in a war we didn't have to be in wasn't our best idea ever' ...... !! :smoke:
My own position on ACC has changed somewhat over the years, and while ten years ago I was full-on for immediate action and total scientific conservatism, now I have pretty much reversed my position, and require a LOT of convincing that anything is going on, or that anybody knows totally what is going on. This is because of the evidence in that ensuing decade not supporting the previous predictions. We don't have out of control increasing numbers and intensities of hurricanes. What about the warming pause? Supposedly the CO2 concentrations could be tracked on a sawtooth line chart by season no less! Whatever happened to that, and how does the pause 'fit' into that? We hear constant sensationalised weather reports -- hottest whatever in 15 years, driest spell since 1980-something, warmest winter in 8 years, lowest rainfall since ~1923, etc, etc, etc, ......... h - u - l - l - o ? ....... really, so what! Disrupt my normal programming when you have something newsworthy to say, like ---- Hottest whatever
since records began, or Driest
E-V-E-R ! :cat:
Until someone can show me a simple pie chart detailing where each bit of extra warming comes from, I am quite comfortable in my view that no-one really knows completely what is going on. What contribution do volcanoes make?, what contribution do burning mountains make?, what contribution do orbital variance, and other centuries long influences make?, etc, etc, etc.
Who really knows what effect the rapidly increasing volume of concrete heat sink all over the world is having (besides UHS effects on temperature monitoring stations) ? Add to that the amount of vegetation cleared, and moisture holding soil lost. What about the extra billions of people now on the planet - what is there % contribution in breathed C02 alone? etc, etc, etc, the list goes on ........
Of more concern than the science though, is the way the political classes eyes light up at the prospect of them finally achieving their holy grail ----- finding a way to tax air! Also of concern is the revival of the push for more fission nuclear reactors - despite Fukishima, despite the intractable waste, let alone the complete and utter lack of political or civilisation level stability over the required time-frames.
I'm all for increased building efficiency, miles-high self sustaining skyscrapers and re-established riparian, wetland, floodplain, and connected, augmented old growth habitats. Really, this land has been flooding for hundreds of thousands or millions of years - the Redgums love it! and in fact have evolved to need it ..... as in other parts of the world -- the only time it becomes an increasing news filling disaster is with the increasing numbers of dopey people who build and live right where flooding is naturally meant to take place! :eek!: I'd like to see better use made of CO2 emissions in a "waste is food" model of biofuel producing algae filtration. I'd also like more concerted efforts on Fusion Nuclear power - say, I dunno, - just invest the entire planetary military budget into it ....... should be some pretty handy progress by 2020 :loveme:
All in all, I still require a lot of convincing on the science, and I think there are better business models than taxation or ETS schemes, such as R&D credits, accelerated depreciation, taxation rebates on merit based investment, superannuation innovation funding, etc, etc
Merry Xmas Ed B
Merry Xmas all o
Chosun :gh:
